How to watch the US Presidential election

Andrew Quinn

Millions of people around the world will be tuning in to watch the US Presidential election unfold on Tuesday.

The pollsters have Democrat candidate, Hillary Clinton, ahead of Republican candidate, Donald Trump, but if we are to learn anything from the result of Brexit it’s that pollsters can sometimes get it wrong. Nothing can be taken for granted.

Here are a few pieces of information that will hopefully make proceedings more straightforward.

Where can I watch the election?

BBC One will be reporting live from Times Square from 11:15pm with coverage elsewhere as the results come in. BBC Breakfast will take over reporting on the election from 6am to 9am on Wednesday morning and a special live show from Washington will be shown on BBC Two from 9am.

ITV’s Good Morning Britain will also be broadcasting live from America from 6am until 9.30am on Wednesday.

What’s the earliest time a winner is likely to be declared?

It’s estimated that 120 million Americans will vote in the election on Tuesday. Given the sheer size of the USA and the different timezones, the earliest time you can expect a declaration is 4am (G.M.T.).

What are the bookies saying?

Up until Sunday evening most bookmakers were offering odds of 11/4 for a Donald Trump win. That all changed on Sunday, when, addressing the recent development in the investigation into emails sent by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, FBI Director James Comey told congressional committee chairmen that the FBI would not be recommending criminal charges.

Almost immediately, bookmakers shortened the odds of a Hillary Clinton win to 1/5 and Trump drifted out to 7/2.

When does the new president officially takeover?

The 45th President of the USA will be sworn in at an inauguration ceremony in Washington D.C. on January 20, 2017.

The winning candidate needs 270 electoral college votes to take the White House. As soon as it’s clear who the winner will be, the losing candidate usually telephones his or her counterpart to concede the election. Regardless of what happens, both Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Trump will give speeches at the end of the election.

However, for the last few weeks, Mr. Trump has alleged that the election has been rigged in Mrs. Clinton’s favour. If Mr. Trump loses it would not be surprising if he was to challenge the result in the courts.